The Scorching: The Scavenger's Story
by StandardUsername533
Summary: When Dr. James Parker wakes up in a world where dragons are the dominant species of Earth and humans are deemed nothing, James must tell his story when the human world collapsed. Humanity was at the brink of war, the western powers had a project to force peace. But when everything went wrong and the broken world fell apart, humans now had to fight their own creations for dominance.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 **2033 (A.D.)**

President Rufer sat at the large computer screen waiting for the call to connect to his old friend. The room was cold as it was underground and the budget cuts caused the heating systems to malfunction often. The entire facility was chiseled into the rock and many walls were simply just rock and sentiment, only certain areas and floors were paneled with metal.

Workers were in all parts of the room, stationed at panels full of buttons and examining documents, but all of them waited to see what the EU had to say about the project. The sound of the video call connecting rang through the room, Rufer then sat up to greet his old friend's face starting to appear on screen. He had a small smile across, but his eyes showed mixtures of fear and anger.

"Good to see you finally Hector, I need to talk to you more than ever after these past events that trouble our two nations" Rufer said immediately.

"Nation? You have created an empire these past few years, forcing Canada, Mexico, and all the way down to South America to join you just for their resources." Hectors' entire face was now angry.

"We saved those countries before their government collapsed," Rufer replied defensively, "That economic crisis back in '27 almost caused all of central America to go into anarchy."

"Even if you were trying to help them, your military takeover cannot be justified," Hector started to calm down, he put on his glasses and started to read the documents in his hand. "I'm sorry old friend, but the EU refuses to help you in this imminent war, you may have won in the Pacific nuclear crisis, but don't let that convince you that you can take on the Commies."

Rufer was torn apart by these news, he thought for sure that the EU would assist them if war was to happen. But he had to make sure that they were still in with the project. "I need to know if you are still on board with project ani.. "

"Let me stop you there, first of all I am going through with only phases 1 through 3, your final hopes for this operation will not bring peace, weapons of mass destruction will only bring more death for your war, but never the less I have chosen my scientist...," a look of regret started to show on Hector. " … And thanks for Dr. Hines, the genetic scientist that we try to look for are a very few here in Britain."

"No worries, we couldn't use all of our selections due to budget cuts" Rufer seemed a bit happy that he could help the EU, especially after everything that has happened. "I hope that you will return the package because of your choice not to go through with phase 4" Rufer reached for his bottle of water and took a sip while Hector was trying to figure out how to answer.

"I regret to say but we will be keeping the stone here, just in case we decide to initiate phase 4," Hector then reached for his handkerchief on the desk and wiped his forehead, with a sigh he then continued. "I'm beginning operations in 2034 and I will have no part in your project."

The two of them started to talk about the designs, their weaknesses and abilities along with the scientist in charge of the operations. Someone then called Hector's name in the complex, Hector then stood up on the screen, "I will be right back, I have some business to attend to." Rufer sat in silence thinking about the creatures in action how this was the newest achievement be humanity, he was quite happy with himself. The president then turned around to go get another bottle of water, but he jumped when he saw everyone in the room looking at him with blank stares, some had mouths open.

Rufer knew that they were all frightened by the conversation about the project, "Everyone calm down, this is the solution we need, this is the breakthrough that Dr. Samson worked so very hard on," Rufer decided to leave out the last detail for morale reasons. Rufer then turned around to see on screen that Hector walked back into his office.

"Sorry about that Rufer, someone need my passcode," Hector sat in his chair and then started to dip a tea bag into his cup of water on the desk. " I'm afraid I can't chat much longer, I have a meeting in an hour and I have to get ready for them." He then took a long sip of his tea and leaned back in his chair.

Rufer then responded, "Well, I don't want to get in your way so I will be leaving now, just remember, phase 4 can save us all, and even one day even allow to reach the stars." Rufer knew that the EU space program was desperately trying to get an space station with artificial gravity, so he tried to convince Hector one last time.

Hector then gave him a look that told Rufer to stop trying to convince him. "Rufer I respect you, but you cannot convince me for I have made up my mind, and I will not go through with phase 4 no matter what!" Rufer just sat there waiting for Hector to say something else. Hector then sighed and said "If they escape or not listen to orders while having this power, there will be no stopping them, but if they are without this power, then they are stoppable, I refuse to put the world in that type of danger."

"I respect will respect your decision, I suppose this is goodbye for a while then." Rufer felt disappointment over both Hector and himself.

"Goodbye Rufer, good luck to you, and godspeed" Hector then pressed the red button on his keyboard and the large screen went blank. Rufer turned around again to see that the whole room was still looking at him, but with faces of remorse and some had anger.

Just then a man in military uniform walked in through the door, "Mr. President, Marine one is ready for you now." The medium sized officer then walked over to the desk to start retrieving paperwork. Rufer started to walk to the door and gave one last look at the room, then continued through the door into the cave like hallway.

The elevator was waiting for him with multiple officers inside, Rufer stepped in and the mesh gate slowly closed. The officer right next to the gate pulled the lever and the rickety elevator started to ascend through the shaft. Rufer was handed a file about one of the dragons and he started to read the info on it, the design had 2 long spikes by the ears and had smaller spikes going down it's spine, the tongue was forked and and the tail was normal unlike that other design.

"Why are you giving me this now?" Rufer said to to the officer who gave it to him, "This was already approved by both me and the secretary of defense." Rufer was already frustrated enough with foreign issues.

The officer then answered with trembling in his voice, "This is the design that has been chosen for project fate, it needs your approval for it to continue." Rufer stared at him as project fate completely slipped his mind with his conversation with Hector. The elevator came to complete hult and the gate opened into the main lobby of the facility, and everyone walked out.

"I give permission to go forward with project fate," Rufer said cautiously to the skinny officer, "Just don't make it a priority."

Everyone walked out of the lobby and onto the small airfield. The humidity of costa rica is almost unbearable, but everyone still ran to Marine One, which was parked not to far away with its rotors spinning. The president was first on board, slowly everyone boarded and the helicopter started to rise off the ground and headed north.

The Secretary of Defense was sitting across from Ruther, he tugged on the president's shirt to get his attention. "I'm glad that you able to get out early, your scientist don't like waiting." The buff guy had a large smile across his face because of how everything has gone perfectly so far.

Ruther was still worried about what Hector said, that he would refuse to put the world in danger, The Secretary tugged at his shirt again, "Don't worry Mr. President, everything is going to change." Ruther thought about that statement while the Helicopter flew to the airfield where Air Force one was parked. Ruther stared at the intense rainforest below, and then towards the sky. He felt regret in his stomach, but this was the only step to take. But would everything work out, there was no going back now, not after everything that has been done for this. _Would everything change, would it be for the best, or for the worst._


	2. Chapter 1, A New World

**Chapter 1**

 **A New World**

 **5011 (A.S.)**

James felt a wave of pain shoot from his nose to his entire face, he woke up in confusion and stared around the rocky room. But instantly felt himself gasping for air as rolled on his back reaching in the air for someone to help him up, but no one came. He felt as if his lungs were filled with liquid but he found himself gasping for air. As he tried to get up his muscles wouldn't budge and he instantly fell back down.

"HELLO, CAN ANYONE HEAR ME" James yelled out, he wondered if max was still down here, but to his dismay the only response was his own echo. James tried again to get up, this time he succeed but he stumbled over very quickly and landed on some wires that laid on the ground. James again stood up and used the cryo pod to get his balance. He then felt a strand of blood start to roll down from his nose.

" _I set the pods to manual wake up, but I don't think anyone will be down here for a while, good luck amigo, and don't let the bedbugs bite"_ , those words that max told him before walking off rang in his head repeatedly. Instantly James realized everyone else must be awaken too! He quickly scoured the room but still saw the other pods closed.

James stumbled over to the pod where Zack was in, despite the fact that his legs were starting to cramp up. He looked into the pod to see that Zack was indeed in there, but only saw his sleeping face. James looked around again and realized that the room was in very bad shape, and that every piece of metal was very rusted and that vegetation somehow found its way into the facility.

James thought to himself " _Damn it Max, you just had to do this to us._ " He knew that he was in no condition to leave so Jame sat himself down and took a second to think about what was actually happening. " _Who could have possibly woke us up, and how long has it been._ " The ideas swirled through James mind, but it was short lived when he heard footsteps running beyond the large cryo pod room. The footsteps were of course human as they were fast and that no dragon could fit in this facility.

He was still in no condition to chase after the mysterious sounds but with nothing else to do, James slowly started towards the exit. "STOP, WHO'S THERE," he yelled out but this only resulted in the footsteps to run faster. James was only at the door of the room when he heard the footsteps stop. Suddenly he stopped in order to see what he could hear, but all that was heard was his own breathing.

James then slowly made his way back to the pods and checked everyone to see if there was any sign of them waking up late, but everyone was still asleep. With no other options James started towards the exit again and stumbled through the endless hallways. His legs began to work normally again so James let go of the walls and started walking by himself to the command center. He walked in and saw that the large computer screen was long gone and that the rows of buttons were long rusted.

"This place must be made of pure tetanus," James quietly said to himself in order to break the eerie silence, and like last time the echoes of his voice soon called back. He looked at the panel that controlled the cryo pods and easily realised that it was not functioning due to most of the buttons either being gone or broken. James still had no idea how he was woken up or why anyone would care about waking him up.

James then walked back towards the cryo pods but took a turn at the storage room to see if their stuff was still intact, considering if the containment room was still functioning. He came up to the large door and looked on how to open it. His only solution was to attempt to pull it open, and surprisingly the door actually opened and the shelves inside were intact. They were still dirty but were in much better condition than the rest of the decaying bunker.

He walked the shelves and found where they put their bags, James checked inside and found that everything he put in before was still where he left it. His flashlight, compass, canteen, files, books, and the Beretta M9 with the 3 magazines that max left for him. " _I hate this Beretta, if only he left my glock 19_ ," James thought to himself. Even though Max betrayed them, James still wondered why Max left the weapons, surely Max would need it when he left. But he didn't care, as long as he could defend himself.

James carried the duffle bag on his back and walked back to the cryo pods. "I'll come back everyone…" James cried out, "I promise." He then walked to the elevator that led to the surface, the hallways were much rockier than before and James saw many rooms and side hallways which support's have collapsed causing the roof to cave in. Eventually he made it to the elevator, but the what only remained were the wires that held that cart.

James silently cursed himself but he knew that there had to be another way up, he then saw the ladder next to the shaft. James threw himself on the ladder and climbed up the long shaft to the surface level. At last he made it to the top and walked through the much more vegetation filled remains of the lobby. James gasped at how much everything has changed, he walked through the lobby and walked out of the cave into the outside.

Instantly James was hit with how hot it was and how intense the humidity was. He felt himself gasping for air as he looked around the rainforest. "Where's the airfield?" James asked to no one but himself, he looked at the ground in order to see at least some evidence of concrete but only saw dirt and dense vegetation. He huffed to himself, he then remembered his compass and pulled it out. James held it up to the sky and leveled out in his hand, once he found true North he started west remembering how the ocean was only a few mile away.

As he started hiking towards the ocean he pulled the Beretta M9 and held it out in front of him. James constantly heard the rustle of trees around him but he dismissed it for wildlife taking a look at a foreign visitor. " _A pistol won't kill any rainwings, but hopefully scare any squadrons away long enough for us to get away._ " James hoped that this was true and that he could use his size to hide from any actual threats.

James felt like he had been walking for hours, so he pulled his compass out again and checked to make sure he was heading West, and sure enough he was. His gun was now at his side and James felt compelled by his thirst for water. The only thing that kept him going was that he remembered the naval base that was close. But soon he heard the sound of a stream! James almost skipped a beat and ran towards the sound of the river.

Only about 200 feet away there was a massive river with only a mild current heading south. James didn't even check to see if it was clean, he threw the bag on the ground and the gun on top. He then threw off his shirt and jeans and took a dive into the river. The cool refreshing water felt like a lifesaver, James took drink after drink of the water not evening caring about how dirty it could be.

After he felt like he had enough fun, James started to swim back to the shore. It was starting to get dark, but luckily James had some fire starting equipment in his bag. Eventually he reached the shore and started to get out. But the he slipped on the rocks and landed with a large thud back into the river! James tried to grab onto the rocks but his arms refused to move from the pain, slowly he felt his vision darkened as he drifted aimlessly down the river.

"Now why would a scavenger be floating in the river, oh it must've hurt itself. Luckily we were able to find him before the rapids," said a stern female voice. James woke up but his eyes were still closed, but he clearly felt that he was inside and on some hammock.

"Please, I say we kill it. For all we know it might be a spy of some animus trickery," James then felt a wave of fear shake up his spine after hearing that sentence. He knew immediately where he was and that he might not get out of this.

But then a female voice said "No, I won't let you kill it, the little scavenger was probably just washing itself and must of slipped and fell," James now really wondered what was happening so he opened his eyes slightly, and the next sight really surprised him. There were many rainwings but also there was a mudwing, 2 nightwings, a sandwing with a missing barbed tail, and 2 seawings, but what really confused him that they were all dragonets except for most of the rainwings and one of the seawings.

"Now killing it won't be the answer," said the mudwing with a broad and powerful voice, "I say we try to get some answers from it, even though it can't speak I read that scavengers can do basic replies," Now the sandwing, mudwing and older seawings nodded in agreeance. Now James was confused, first of all why were they referring to him as a scavenger and how come they didn't know.

The little sandwing must of noticed James being awake so she ran up to the hammock and instantly started talking, "Hey there little guy, did you get enough sleep? Sorry if we woke you up we just wanted to know why you were floating through the river. You were very lucky that a patrol found you before you drifted into the rapids. Now I know you can't speak but we wanted to know what this was." James was shocked when he saw that she was holding the beretta M9 up to him, he instantly grabbed it so the sandwing wouldn't cause a misfire.

The sandwing jumped back probably fearing my sudden movement, then the seawing dragonet and 2 other rainwings started towards him. James quickly unloaded the magazine from the pistol and threw both of the objects on the floor while holding his hands straight up. Instantly all 3 dragons stopped, "See Sunny, I told you we couldn't trust this filthy creature. Just let me finish it off so we can get back to Jade mountain." The seawing than slowly began to approach him menacingly.

But then one of the nightwings in the corner then spoke out to defend him "Tsunami, don't kill it, that scavenger has some things that I haven't seen before, I mean have you taken a look in it's bag." The nightwing's voice was trembling and he noticed that the it looked a bit scared. James took a look at the nightwing and realized it was blind due to the fact of his eyes being a gray pale color. Then he saw that the female Nightwing was with him as well, sorta like a protector.

"Starflight, you hate scavenger's, especially after what they did to you in the arena, and plus it can't speak. No scavenger has ever been known to speak the dragon language." Tsunami didn't sound like she really cared whether James actually had valuable information. Then the seawing turned back to towards him and aimed her talons, ready to strike at James.

Instantly James responded with yelling out, "WAIT," surprisingly that seemed to stop the seawing, but everyone else in the room just stared at him with wide faces. " _Wait, the seawing said no scavenger could speak the dragon language, does that mean humans can no longer speak,_ " James didn't know what to do so he just sat there staring back at all the dragons at the room.

"It didn't just speak did it, tha.. that's impossible, no scavenger can speak," replied the trembling Starflight in the corner. The nightwing next to him then started whispering to him, but James could not hear. Then Sunny moved back to the mudwing and she asked him something that James could not hear either.

"What are you," asked the mudwing in a scared but confident voice.

James thought about what to say for a second, but then settled on, "I'm a human, just like any other. My name is James Parker, and yours is?" His words were full of fear but he managed to get them out loud enough for the mudwing to hear.

"My name is Clay," Clay then pointed around to the other dragons and introduced them. " This is Sunny, Tsunami, Starflight, Fatespeaker, and Mangrove." James looked around the room a bit more to see that there were many types of fruits and tonics on the shelves in the hut. He stared back at Clay and wondered why all these Dragons were together. Instantly Tsunami ran out the door and James heard her wingbeats as she flew away.

"Clay?," James asked and Clay looked at him, "How long... has it been." James tried to hold back tears when asking this question, wondering whether if humans were even still alive.

"You've been asleep about all night since we brought you to the healing hut," Sunny replied, but this wasn't the answer that James was looking for.

"No… how long has it been since the takeover," James sat in the hammock waiting for the answer that he knew he would not want to hear. But all the dragons stared at him with confusion, "You know... when humanity was at it's knees, AND THEN IT WAS KILLED BY YOUR SPECIES!"

Sunny and Clay looked at each other in sorrow, then Sunny looked back and replied, "It's been 5011 years since the Scorching James." Tears started to roll down James eyes as he not expected for it to be that long. Sunny quickly noticed this and added, "Don't worry, we will take care of you and there are still scavengers alive, but they just can't speak the Dragon language."

Then James wiped his tears and tremblingly asked, "Why do you call us scavengers, we are called Humans, or at least that's what it was before the Scorching."James also wanted to ask about the Humans alive today, but only one question at a time.

Clay then replied, "It's because you are always scavenging for things." James then thought about that for a second.

"Well, Figures"

Then the older Seawing and Nightwings seemed to both ask the question, "What was it like in the human world?" James found it cute how they wanted to know, but he couldn't help notice that he was only in his underwear. So James made a notation for his bag and Clay quickly handed it to him.

He then responded to their question quickly, "Oh, it was magnificent. Imagine cities lit up at night and the whole world connected by communications that could be delivered in Milliseconds.." James could go on forever but he knew he already grabbed every dragon's attention in the room, he then pulled out his clothes and put them on while also putting the gun in the bag. James continued, "Humanity accomplished many medical achievements as well, we could heal multiple conditions and illnesses, we also made it to space and had satellites that could transmit data over long distances, as well as space stations that could accommodate many people. "

He was about to continue but then a rainwing then entered the hut. "Queen Glory wishes to see the scavenger." Then Clay moved over to James and picked him up and all of the dragons in the hut darted through the forest. James couldn't make out much, but he did see many huts and other rainwings that dotted the trees. The early morning sun shined across the rainforest and made quite the site.

All the dragons entered a palace like structure that was built into one of the massive trees. James was set down before a Rainwing dragonet and a Nightwing stationed next to her. Then the Rainwing dragonet in powerful voice introduced herself, "I'm Queen Glory of the Rainwings and Nightwings. I have been told that you were found floating unconscious in the river. So tell me everything you know, who you are and why are you here." James could tell that a lot must have happened for their to be a state of monarchy, and that their were 2 factions being led by one dragon.

"Well first of all, my name is Doctor James Parker of Genetic Science. I formally go by James so just call me that." James tried to sound profound, but inside he was trembling in fear. Especially at being in the hand of Rainwings. "I was forcefully frozen by a affiliate of mine about 5000 years ago, and now if you excuse I would like to be on my way."

"Not so fast _James_ , I can't just let you leave." The way Glory said James made him wonder if she believed him. "If you come from the Scorching then you must know what have happened correct?" James hoped that she wasn't going to ask what happened, he really didn't want to recall his story. "If you don't mind, why don't you tell us what happened and perhaps show us some of your gadgets that you have in your bag there." Her tone didn't seem threatening, but rather a peaceful and understanding tone.

James felt like he was going to be sick, "Glory, I hope you understand that what happened long ago is a terrible tragedy and that I really prefer not to recall what has happened. I'm still recovering from cryo stasis and I need to get something to eat and get some more sleep." James really hoped that Glory would allow this, or at least let him get relaxed enough to recall that nightmare of a story.

The Nightwing then started to whisper to Queen Glory and James gulped at the looks he was receiving from him. Then Glory stood up and announced, "Alright James, I understand your troubles and I allow you to stay with us. I will give you your accommodations, BUT under one condition. You show us what that device is that you seemed so desperate to protect when Sunny held it up to you." James heart then stopped, no way would he waste a bullet for a demonstration, but he quietly nodded his head in agreeance.

James put a piece of bark on a ledge outside on the pavilion and he cleared all the dragons to go behind him. James then yelled out, "Now this is a weapon that many humans had during the Scorching, I strongly advise you cover your ears," but of course only a few did so. James took a deep breath and aimed down the sights of the Berretta, there was only one bullet in it. He looked down sights, aimed on the target and fired the shot, the sound rang through the forest and the bark exploded into multiple pieces! James turned around to see many rainwings covering their ears, including Glory and the rest of the dragons that he saw in the healing hut.

The demonstration seemed to have scared Glory and she confiscated the weapon, but she did agree to keep it safe. Jame's hut was abnormally large for a human, but he was given a bowl of fruit and multiple buckets of water. He didn't look around much, he only put his bag down and walked over to the hammock. James legs felt very tired and he slowly slipped into the hammock that hanged off the ground. He felt his eyes slowly close as he drifted off to sleep once more.

When he woke up, both Sunny and the Nightwing that seemed to follow Glory everywhere were in the room talking. James then said, "Why is it every time I wake up some dragon is watching me," he tried to sound cheerful but the fear in his voice was too much and the joke was not heard clearly.

Then Sunny walked over smiling and said, "James this is Deathbringer, we were wanting to know when you could tell us the story." She sounded persistent and James knew this was probably not going to stop until he gave them some information.

James then replied with, "Alright, I'll tell you some information, but I'm going to start telling my story tomorrow," He quickly could tell that they both got a little excited to hear what he had to say. "Alright well, first of all we humans created Dragons to…"

"WAIT," Sunny yelled out, "HUMANS CREATED DRAGONS, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE."

James calmly responded, "Yeah, a human named Doctor Samson created the first Dragon in the year 2032, he named it Oxide. I don't know why but that's what it's name was." He was going to continue but they both stared at him in disbelief. James knew immediately that he had no way to prove his words, but he had to continue, "Oxide had more animalistic instincts than modern dragons, but Oxide took commands well and was very talented, no genetic creation before was so well designed and both Doctor Samson and his assistant took great pride in their work." James then felt depressed about the next part. "But unfortunately one day Oxide attacked and killed Samson, his assistant tried to escape the testing chamber but was killed too. The facility was underground so no satellites could detect their work, but this meant that the guards were in close quarters and at least 4 of them were killed, but eventually Oxide was shot dead."

Both Sunny and Deathbringer looked more in shock now and quickly ran out, James thought whether or not it was wise to tell them that but he really wanted to go back to sleep and he needed to start the story somewhere, he then started to fall back asleep.

James was then bombarded when Glory and everyone who he had met so far came into his hut, they all came in clearly wanting to hear more. Starflight first said, "How did this all happen, you must tell us please!" James really didn't want too but he knew there was no getting out of this. He quickly shushed the room so he could at least make a good way to start, he felt a bit more enthusiastic for some reason. Taking a second to think where to start, James then started to speak.

"Alright, I guess it all started with… Operation Animus" Then the whole room went silent as James started to continue to tell how a great species fell as another took over at least 5000 years before.

 **A/N: This story will focus in the past as that is what one would expect, and most importantly, everything lore related has been planned out, so just be ready.**


	3. Chapter 2, The Beginning

**Chapter 2**

 **The Beginning**

 **2033 (A.D.)**

The wait felt like hours, everyone had been waiting for this moment for at least a few years. The scientist in the room were jumping in their seats waiting for what President Rufer had to say and what their main task was. The request for these creatures was an odd one at most, but it allowed everyone to take a step away from the boring life of a genetic scientist and create something fresh.

James sat quietly in his seat just taking a sip of water every now and then, while watching all the other scientist chat with each other. Boston was a bit cold for James's likings, but meeting the president was something he has always wanted to do, especially Rufer. Just then a Man in a suit walked up to the podium on the stage, he was clearly not Rufer, this guy was short and stalky.

"Attention everyone…" he spoke into the microphone with a nervous sounding voice but his posture seemed confident. "Air Force One has been delayed for about an hour, thank you for your patience. I would like to welcome President Rufer." Then the announcer walked off the stage and from behind the curtain came walking Rufer. He came up to the podium and looked out towards his audience with thankful eyes and small smile across his face, but his hands seemed shaky.

"Thank you all for your patience, and it is my honor to announce that you all have been chosen to lead the military's most recent program. The task that you have been asked to fulfill may seem unusual and oddly specific, but we promise that we have good intentions." Rufer sounded on edge, but James was too busy remembering opening that letter that he got on that work day just a year before.

That letter asked for a creature that had over a page of descriptions and a few drawn pictures of examples for physical design. Many of the other scientist in his facility didn't pay much attention to it at first, but after a few days it became clear that this was the new priority of every genetic scientist. Some even gave up their careers just for the task, about majority scientist in the Western Powers dedicated their lives to that job. But only 10 were chosen, including James with his design for a dark winged creature that could blend into dark spaces and breath fire, James then looked back up at Rufer.

"We like to thank you all for hard work and dedication but we are sorry to say that due to budget cuts, only the 7 of you made the final cut." Rufer was now acting sad but James could easily tell that this was being faked. "Now most of you are aware that Doctor Samson is in retirement, but we regret to inform you, that story was a coverup. He and both his assistant were killed by their dragon oxide." The entire room was silent and waiting for Rufer to continue. "Now it took 4 more guards to be lost before finally taking that creature down. But you see these dragons are powerful and the council believes that with proper treatment and care, we can achieve something much greater."

Just then one of the other scientist stood up and asked, "I was aware that Doctor Hines was cut, what did you do with him?" The scientist that stood up was Doctor Taran, she designed a white creature that breathed a deadly nitrogen gas which would freeze about anything it touches. Taran sounded stressed, James figured that she and Doctor Hines must of worked together prior to this.

"I'm sorry Doctor Taran, Mr. Hines was a great scientist, but his design did not spark our final interest. We had to drop him from our project unfortunately." Rufer looked nervous and scrambled through his paper, trying to find his spot. James looked at him and knew there was something else behind this. Rufer then gave a small smile as he found his place on the paper and started to continue, "Your new job will be much harder than the last and will require ultimate concentration, I welcome General Thompson, Secretary of Defense, to explain your next task."

As Rufer walked behind the curtain, a large uniformed man walked on stage. "Thank you Rufer. Scientist, your task is to lead our operation to raise your designs in large quantities." All the scientist in the room gasped at this line, including James. He thought that this was a government controlled project, not military controlled. The general continued, "You will be tasked with staying in underground facilities for a 10 year period, these are top of the line facilities are underground to avoid satellite detection. These facilities were old nuclear fallout shelters, but many sections have been hollowed out for the development of your _dragons_ ,"

 _Why would he say it like that_ , James didn't feel comfortable with this situation, but he kept thinking while Thompson continued talking. _I thought this would be project to test our capabilities, not to create weapons_ , James started to listen again to what was being said.

"...nothing to worry about, these facilities are top of the line and recreate the lives that people should live outside of the shelter." James looked around and saw that many scientist still seemed flustered, he even saw Doctor Noren get up and try to leave, but 2 armed guards stopped him and put him back in his seat. The general then looked at him big grin on his face, "I understand Norren that you designed the _seawing_ to help with water rescue, but our intentions make it a great a combatant of foreign naval forces." Now the entire room was in an uproar as armed guards and scientist started to yell at each other in argument.

"STOP THIS MADNESS," yelled Rufer from folds of the curtain, he ran to the podium and pushed the already angry general away. "I understand that you feel betrayed, but no one knows about this except us. Once these dragons are fully grown and ready, the mere threat of these dragons will bring fear and defiance. From there, we will bring peace," Rufer clearly didn't like this plan, his words were trembling, James didn't like this idea, he knew that fear would not be a answer.

The general then directed Rufer back to his spot behind the curtain and came back clearly looking to finish his speech. "Listen up, you will have specific locations and you will be payed well. This won't be easy and you will receive nothing after this, and you won't be given much information after. You will be given escort to your new location, and as of right now your new life is working for us. Good luck all of you, you're going to need it." Thompson waved Rufer back over, he then walked off with a small grin.

Rufer stood up at the podium looking speechless, "I'm sorry that this news was delivered like that, I hope that this doesn't affect your hopes for the project. Now listen, your flights have been scheduled to leave in about 2 hours, we have prepared some lunch for you." James looked back to where Rufer was pointing, and there were some tables in the back of the room with plenty of food and refreshments on them.

Everyone in the room slowly got up and started over towards the food tables, including Rufer. James started to walk over to him, "Rufer? I figured out by now that Doctor Henrick must have been dropped because of budget cuts. But I need to know the reason why he was cut, Jason was such a dedicated worker and his designs were so well received by your Generals."

Rufer looked back at him with an answer already in mind, "You see James, this task I'm afraid will change your life very much, and you will be cut off from society and other people." Rufer now had some look of remorse, but James couldn't bring himself to believe it. "Now Jason's design was very well done, but he has a wife and daughter, along with a small business, and to take him away would be too much for both his family and community. I hope you can understand." James understood, but all he understood was that he was chosen because he appeared as an outcast.

James quickly grabbed his food and walked over to the table where some of the scientist were sitting. "Now look who's finally come to talk to us," said Doctor Griffin with a hefty laugh and cheerful voice. Griffin always appeared like some crackpot, his design was very illogical and seemed unnecessary, but James couldn't understand why he wasn't considered a contribution to society, out of everyone there Griffin seemed the most welcoming.

"GRIFFIN, how can you're so cheerful, especially now. We're having are life's taken away just for some bit of world peace that will never come." Taran walked up sounding very angry and disgusted with what was happening.

Griffin looked back with a piece of bread in his mouth, "Now Taran, I understand you wanted Hines to be working with you, but being angry won't change the fact. You just need accept the way things are, and the problems of life will fall into place." Griffin went back to eating his lunch.

"Oh yeah sure that's the solution to life, I'm sure that is all of what your mudwings will do. Just lay in the mud and let their wounds just heal up with not a care in the world. If you ask me that's just some baloney that got you in this job in the first place." Taran was starting to get the attention of the entire room.

"It's not baloney Taran, it's a wonder of science. Now sit down before you start bothering the room." Griffin was clearly trying to calm down the situation but Taran was not calming down.

"I'm sure that your _colleagues_ agree with me, how about you," she picked James and stood him up on his feet, "Don't tell me you believe this insane concept."

James looked at Griffin and then back Taran trying to find a way out of this, but he remained speechless. " I… I think that it's a remarkable design choice, the scale pattern is also remarkable, real work of art. Now can we sit down and try and have a normal conversation." James look at Taran and waited for her to sit down or just walk away.

Taran then walked of pouting to herself, Griffin turned to James with a pleasing smile, "Hey James, thanks for saying that. Now let's try to get off this topic, now I see you were talking a Rufer just a few minutes ago, why was that?"

"Oh, well you see I was asking him about an old friend of mine. His name was Jason Henrick, he was one hell of a determined person. If he needed to get something done, then he would do it. We shared a Dorm back in College, damn was he good fella, unfortunately i guess he fell victim to the budget cut." Griffin nodded in agreeance, both James and Griffin went back to eating their food.

About a half an hour later the announcer came back on stage and told everyone it was about time to leave. In a hurry, everyone packed up their papers and work files and were soon herded to elevators, this was where guards met them in the lobby of the hotel.

James followed his armed escorts out the door and to cars that were waiting outside the building. Even his guards were escorts, they felt more like walls blocking him from getting out of this situation. His escorts hid their weapons in big bushy coats and we all walked to the cars. They drove in a rush to the airport, James was handed a big flier containing a lot of information that he had questions on. On one of the pages there was a map of the entire Western Powers ranging from the tip of Canada down the Northern end of South America. The map had the locations of the facilities, James saw that his facility was near the Los Angeles area. Among closer inspection, he noticed that majority of the complexes were in the United states, only 2 were outside the country. 1 was in Toronto, Canada and another in San Salvador, El Salvador.

The small convoy drove straight onto the runway, heading towards a few small private planes waiting by the hangers far away from the terminals. James thought about everything that just happened in the last few hours, how he now was working for the government and that he was going to be underground for quite some time. James was quickly pulled out of the car and was being escorted to one of the many jets in the hanger. He was being held by his shoulder, but James felt as if he were being dragged.

A large officer was standing at the foot of the aircraft and started talking to him in a very welcoming voice, "Welcome Doctor Parker, I'm captain Langsley and I'm your right hand man in this operation." The escorts let go of James and Langsley started to help him aboard the Learjet 40. Once inside James saw many people already aboard, not just soldiers, but what looked like other scientist and workers. There was 1 seat on each side of the aisle and he saw that all of the passengers didn't seem scared or worried but rather happy and excited, one was even watching an in-flight movie on his phone. "Everyone this is our scientist, Doctor Parker, he is the designer of the Nightwing!" The whole plane went into applaud and James was given a seat in the front of the plane next to a young woman who looked very excited.

"Doctor Parker! I've read so much of your work and I'm really glad to be assigned to you! My name is Liliana Rita, I'm the zoologist that has been assigned to your operation." Liliana sounded really excited, but James wasn't in the mood for small talk so gave a polite nod back to her. He just was trying to wrap his head around what just happened and maybe find some information.

 _I have a life and a career, I can't just leave it behind. Perhaps this may change once we arrive in Los Angeles_ James was thinking about everything when he realized that he had no idea where the plane was going, but then Langsley stood up and started talking.

"Alright everyone, just want to say thank you for working with us. Now lets begin our flight so we can start the project…" James tried to get up from his seat but he quickly sat down as the jet started to taxi towards the runway. "... we will get a bigger breiving once we arrive to the facility."

The plane rolled onto the runway, the pilots up front were checking their controls and started to prepare for takeoff. James looked out the small window and saw similar pictures happening at the entrances of the other planes, all the scientist were being happily greeted and taken aboard.

The radio in the cockpit then buzzed on, "Flight 23, you are clear for takeoff." In that instant the small private jet's engines roared up and the plane took off down the runway. The sights of the city and coastline were almost too remarkable to look at, one side was bustling with life, the lights and cars on the ground took up most of the view. But the ocean only was less populated, every boat was making a living, while competing for a resource that all could so easily share, but the classic ways of humanity blinded them all. James stared off into his own thoughts as the plane flew west, towards it's destination.

James sat in silence as every dragon in the room sat staring at him to continue, but he motioned that he was done. "Now that is only the beginning, it all started in just 2 hours. The boring life of a genetic scientist was dreadful, spend 3 years of your life bringing some extinct animal back to life only to be the most popular scientist in the science community for about a week." James sat there just waiting for the audience to leave.

"Be gone now, I've told you enough for one day, now let me be to myself," James said in grouchy attitude. One by one each dragon stepped out of the hut, until only Queen Glory and her bodyguard Deathbringer were left. James stared at them with question in mind. "Now tell me, how is it that 2 dragons from different factions are together. Now I understand that it has been quite a long time, but something really big has to happen, especially when there was such a large rivalry between dragons so long ago."

Glory then began, "It's a very long story," James looked outside one of the windows and guessed there was about an hour of sunlight left.

"Well, we have about an hour. Tell me a bit, maybe even include why all those other friends yours are together."

Glory looked back at him, she then began with some prophecy stuff, then about being in a cave for quite a long time. She then continued with a evil skywing named Scarlet, then about the kingdom of sea and how Rainwings were being captured by nightwings. The story then ended with the 20 year war being ended, along with a load of other details.

James sat there, astonished by this tale of events, "I be damned, why that is impressive, how 5 tiny dragonets could end a war that in my opinion would be the end of this world." James looked outside and saw 2 moons in the night sky. "What the…" he quickly ran outside and saw the moons shining off in the distance, then James saw a third one on the northern horizon. "So that's what happened to our moon."

Glory came running out, "What's the problem?"

James didn't look back at her, "It's just that the Human world only had 1 moon," he just kept staring at the beautiful sight. "Glory, I know you're the Queen, but why are you still here."

"I just want to know if you are going to finish your story," this time James did look back and he saw that Deathbringer was right next to her.

James silently chuckled to himself, "Glory, if you start a story it would be rude to end it abruptly. Now I don't want to finish, but like I am stating, I must continue." It was with those words that got Glory and Deathbringer to leave, and that was when James walked back into the hut.

He grabbed a piece of fruit from the bowl and dumped his canteen into the bucket of water, filling it to the top. James took a sip of water and pulled out a book from his bag, the book wasn't in the best of conditions, but James felt a need for some history. He felt through the pages for his bookmark, eventually his finger found it and opened the page to an excerpt about the cold war. But then James heard some light footsteps outside.

"Leave me be, I need some time to myself," just then James realized that those footsteps couldn't be from a dragon. Instantly he threw himself from the hammock and walked towards the door, but to James surprise, another human stood there. The human was male and wore a cloak and many swords and daggers.

"Quite a name you have made yourself James Parker, the brotherhood request you." The man spoke in a deep and powerful tone, and his outfit was nothing out of the modern world. "I see you made some unlikely friends."

"Who are you?" James asked in curiosity.

"Brother Joseph, I've been assigned to wake you from your slumber."

So that was who James heard in the bunker this morning. "So _Joseph_ , why are you here?" James didn't know what to ask, so he started with some basics questions.

"Well I was requested to retrieve you once you woke up, but I had other things that needed to be done first. Unfortunately you got out of the cave once I got back and I hunted all over for you. Looks like I found you in the least likely of places." Joseph was starting to pull out something from his bag, he then pulled out a necklace. "I need you to wear this please."

"And why is that?" James responded.

Joseph started to grin and approach him, "No need to worry, it will be fine." But James has heard that excuse way too many times and he quickly threw his canteen from his belt at the cloaked human. The canteen bounced off of Joseph and landed on the floor starting to spill that water inside. "You are going to regret that."

Instantly Joseph lunged at him, but James countered him and pushed him into the wall. Both the men flew straight through the wall of the hut and started rolling around on the deck outside. Joseph struggled to get the Necklace around James's neck, but with one clean kick from James, Joseph dropped the necklace and it slowly rolled through the floorboards. Joseph cursed to himself and this let James get up in order to escape.

But Joseph angrily threw James across the deck and pulled out his dagger in rage. James had no way of protecting himself and tried to run, but quickly found Joseph pinning him to the ground and attempting to put the dagger through his neck. "I'm sorry James, but you have said too much." Joseph then started to insanely laugh, "Looks like your story ends here, I'm afraid those dragonets can't know this stuff either. I suppose I'll just have to kill them too." James's was losing the fight and the dagger started to inch its way towards him.

But then he remembered the trick to get out of this situation, and with a quick movement. James twisted Joseph's wrist, aiming the dagger back towards him and stabbing him straight through the neck. Joseph gave a cry of agony, but it was quickly silenced. In his last breaths, a mouthful of blood was coughed all over James's face before falling limp to the side.

Still in pain, James stood up and slowly wiped some of the blood of his face, Joseph's blank stare was too much for him to look at. James quickly removed the dagger from Joseph's neck, then he opened his cloak and began to search the body, only pulling off pieces of jewelry and small pieces of paper. After that James gave him one last look before slowly rolling him off the side of the deck. He began walked inside as he heard the body fall through the leaves and then hitting the forest floor with a thud.

James picked up the fallen canteen, there was some water still left in it. He used that water to clean off some of the blood on himself. James then walked over to the hammock where the book still laid, he still thought to himself silently. James slipped into the hammock leaving the book on one of the desk. He started to recall some memories and began to connect the dots. He remembered everyone he had met today and what Jason had written down, James looked around the hut and out some windows to make sure he wasn't being watched.

He then quietly said to himself in curiosity, "Maybe Jason _was_ telling the truth." The moon light began to shift as James began to drift off to sleep.

 **A/N: Big thanks to DragonLord15 for letting me add in Jason Henrick, if you haven't read her story, it's called The Scorching Truth. Trust me it will come in handy reading it. Oh yeah, any names, events, and/or dates that are the same in the real world are completely coincidental, all you need to know is what is in this story, (and Scorching Truth).**


	4. Chapter 3, The Gathering Storm

Chapter **3**

 **The Gathering Storm**

 **5011 (A.S)**

 **3 Day later...**

James pulled the beam with all his might, but the cryo pod door would not budge. He finally gave up as the stick brook, it had been hours and James knew that the dragonets above would be worried if he was gone too long. Another look through the porthole on the door reassured him that Zack was not awake. James grabbed his flashlight and started to walk back through the hallways.

 _If Joseph was able to get me out, I must be able to get everyone out too_ , he looked through his bag and sorted among the stuff that he found on Joseph's body. But none of the objects seemed up for the task. James finally came back to the control room and started to look through the controls, hoping that maybe a wire might still be intact.

To his dismay there was no sign of anything be useable, not after 50 centuries. It was still an amazement how the facility was still intact. James then looked through his bag again and pulled out the beretta that Glory gave back to him for this expedition. Just then James's flashlight started to flickering, causing an occasional darkness to spread across the room. He darted for the light, but it gave out and James couldn't see a thing.

He tried to feel his around the room but his eyes had not adjusted to the darkness yet. All of a sudden a small glowing light started to come through the hallway, it was a person but it looked like a ghost like figure. The older man face was clearly visible but his figure seemed to glide like the cloaks that hung from Joseph. James held up his gun in a sign of defense, but he felt terrified on the inside.

The ghost than started to speak in a small and calming voice, "Relax sir, I only wish to help you. It seems that the _Brotherhood of Pyrrhia_ made a wrong first impression, Joseph was one of our more… violent members" James did not lower the weapon, he only tightened his grip when the entity got closer.

"What was that necklace that he wanted on me, what do you mean I said too much, and IF YOU HURT ANY OF THOSE DRAGONETS, I swear that I will kill you all," James spoke with anger and threatening posture. He expected the ghost to attack him but it just stared at him with it's hands out, trying to disarm the situation.

"The brotherhood doesn't want any unnecessary violence, we only ensure that the peace is present here in Pyrrhia, we do not kill dragons that mean us no harm. That would only compromise our existence and put all of us in danger." The ghost began to pull out objects that looked exactly like Joseph's. "That necklace is a… way of tracking our members while they are on missions, and we only want to keep you safe. You would know that dragons and scavengers don't get along well." And this entity was right, James did know that for a fact.

"Who are you, and what do you want with me?" James tried to sound persistent, but lowering his gun slightly only canceled the effect.

"I'm afraid I can't release my name to you, but what I can say is that we have been interested in you for a very long time. Now listen carefully, are database tells us that something by the name of project fate was successful, now we are aware you have looted some objects from Joseph. The bronze bracelet contains a rock known to dragons as skyfire, our members don't have their thoughts permanently protected, so this is a temporary solution. We request that you have this on you for the time being." James heard enough though when he heard the words _Project Fate_.

James put the bracelet on immediately and looked at the man for further instructions. But he only saw him fade away and point to the door, "I think your friend is waking up." Instantly the room became dark and for a few odd seconds James stood there waiting for something to happen, and then the flashlight flickered to life. James quickly grabbed it and walked back to the cryo room, and there he saw Zack laying there lifeless on the ground.

James ran over to the young boy and held him up, but Zack was clearly unconscious and not responding to James. With nothing else to do he put the young teen on his back and slowly made his way to the elevator shaft. Once they arrived, James pulled out the small stretcher hanging in the shaft and lowered Zack into it. With a huff of confidence, he pushed the stretcher into the shaft and started to pull the vine, thus causing Zack to be pulled up to the top.

Once James was sure that the stretcher was up to the top, he tied the vine to the rock that he brought with him, grabbed his bag, and started to climb up the shaft. It wasn't long before he reached the top, once he got to the main floor James swung the rope to the side of the shaft and pulled the stretcher through the door and started to drag it towards the exit.

Even though that they must of been in there for hours, Sunny and Tsunami were still waiting outside the entrance. They both looked worried but Sunny turned to James when she saw that he was carrying someone else. "JAMES, are you alright. Who is that with you?" Sunny ran straight by James and started to examine Zack, James looked at Tsunami. The seawing looked annoyed and didn't seem to care much about Zack, James guessed that she was annoyed with him being late. He really did not enjoy Tsunami, she seemed like someone with a hatred not yet forgiven, personally James don't like these folks which's problems

James turned back to Sunny, "Be careful with him, I still need to make sure that he is not suffering from cryo sickness. We need to head back quickly." In that instant Sunny carefully picked up Zack and lifted off through the trees. James jumped onto Tsunami's back and soon both dragons glided through the sky back to the village. James hadn't minded the heights that much, he may still held on for his dear life but he felt a sense of freedom when flying, something that he rarely felt before waking up.

It wasn't long before the group returned to the main village, James's new hut which he had been trying to accurately change to human size was right in the middle of village towards the skyline with a clear view of the sky. Both dragons landed on the pavilion, Sunny carefully placed Zack on the ground. James quickly jumped off Tsunami's back and ran over to the kid laying on the ground, he picked him up and brought him inside.

The hut was very different than from it looked like prior to James's arrival. The hut now had 2 stories with the inside area being hollow for dragon visitors. Rainwings were very skilled in hut making and James knew he was very fortunate to receive their help in return with some small stories from the human world. James walked inside with Zack on his shoulder, he called for Sunny's help, and with that she picked up Zack and lifted him to the top floor where the smaller hammocks were.

Only 5 hammocks were hanging up, James's already had a blanket and a makeshift pillow. The other 4 were simply not finished, Zack was placed right next James's hammock. Both Sunny and Tsunami watched James as he inspected Zack. First he put his ear to his chest, he heard breathing. Next he felt for pulse on Zack's wrist, the heartbeat felt like it was at the right speed. Now James was no doctor in medical science, but a small manual found in the facility's Containment Room about how to identify Cryo Sickness.

"Is he all right," said Sunny in curiosity.

"He should be fine for now, could you please get Glory for me?" Sunny nodded and darted out the door, James went back to examining Zack.

"It's Queen Glory," Tsunami yelled out. James looked up at her ready to speak.

"With all due respect, she is not my Queen nor my species. So for the time being I will call her by name."

"And her name is Queen Glory of the Rainwings." James no longer paid attention, he got up and started to walk across the weak floorboards to his desk on the other side of the hut and pulled out some papers. Tsunami wasn't done, "We've been through a lot, especially Glory and she deserves a bit more respect." Now James started to examine the documents on the desk, he started to get annoyed with Tsunami. "I don't know who you think you are _Mister Parker_ , but you need to start showing a bit of respect to my friends…"

"TSUNAMI," James yelled out, "I understand you and your friends have been through a lot, but I have seen my fair share of the horrors of war. Now _I_ would respect if you leave me be for at least a few minutes." James gave her a look of disgust and with that Tsunami huffed off, out of the hut.

James let out a small huff of relief, he then went back to examining the map of Pyrrhia. He was trying to figure out how this land formation could have possibly formed, the poorly drawn map of North America right next to the scroll did not bring much help either, nor the fact that the scroll was about the size of him.

He kept struggling when Glory and her loyal companion Deathbringer arrived, she quickly noticed Zack laying in the hammock. James turned in his makeshift chair to greet her but Glory spoke first, "I take it that this Zack." James nodded in agreeance, "Will he be alright, he looks dead."

James walked carefully back over to where Zack was lying, he brushed aside Zack's dark hair and felt his forehead for any sign of fever. "Don't worry Glory, he should be fine. You see I found a small manual that says exactly what to do in this case..."

"You mean the case where you are frozen by a traitor and wake up in a world taken over by dragons," Glory replied sarcastically.

James chuckled to himself, "No no… of course not. Just in the case that the facility is abandoned, those who wake up can treat both themselves and others for cryo sickness."

Glory looked back at James, "James? I understand that you just came back, but we were wondering when you would continue with the story."

James did not forget about that, he only wish that she didn't ask. He did not want to avoid it though, "Alright, I suppose I could continue. But I will not repeat myself so unless you want to tell everyone else what I say, I recommend you gather them around." James tried not to sound bossy but he knew he was started to act a bit grouchy. Fortunately Glory started to walk towards the exit looking like she was starting to think where everyone else was, but James almost forgot something, "Oh Glory…" She turned around and saw James holding the barrel of the beretta, nudging the weapon for her to take it. "I almost forgot to return this to you."

But to his surprise Glory smiled and said, "Keep it, I trust you." James smiled back and gave a thankful hand gesture. Glory walked out the door, but Deathbringer walked up to him, "You better not cause any trouble," his voice was firm and loud, like someone who did not mess around but still seemed human, or sorta human. It reminded him of someone he knew, James nodded to him and then the large nightwing darted to the exit to catch up with Glory.

James sat at his desk, trying to figure out the strange land formation and how it could connect to North America. It wasn't long before the group of dragons crowded into his hut, all expecting some story of triumph, but only James knew the truth. The truth was yet to come.

 **2033 (A.D.)**

"Alright it looks like this is must be the living quarters," said Tommy very enthusiastically. The main room of the quarters weren't much, the walls were standard concrete with a couch and few comfy chairs dotting the room with a flat screen television on a table at the end of the room. It was no bigger than a standard living room, one wall was completely covered in screens and buttons. Hallways to staterooms and other parts of the living quarters were on both side.

"Doesn't seem like much, this place better have some workout equipment," said Jack. Jack was the assistant military director, James still did not appreciate the end results of this project but he had little choice.

"Don't worry Jack, we got everything we need. This was an old fallout shelter back from that fear of Nuclear war." James also remembered that crisis, the Nuclear Pacific Theater happened when he got out of college. The state of Hawaii was wiped off the map along with other islands and provinces in the Pacific, it gave the world a taste of nuclear war and caused one of few world agreements to not use nuclear weapons in warfare.

"We aren't here to work out, we are here to get these _things_ ready for service." That was Eric, he was the leader of all the entire group, even though James had ultimate control over everything, Eric knew the most so therefore did the most of the leading.

James walked off into one of the hallways until he came to his stateroom. Behind that door was a luxurious room, queen sized bed and a private bathroom behind. Supposedly fallout shelters were cramped, but apparently the ones transformed for this operation had undergone large changes. His only belongings that were brought were just a few personal clothes, but the drawers and cabinets were filled with all the necessary items.

Liliana walked in with her glasses on, "Isn't this exciting, I mean we are underground and making our wildest dreams come to life."

James didn't feel happy, but rather trapped in this shelter. "Yeah… I suppose this is fun," Liliana walked up to him smiling in delight.

"I can't wait to get the first batch," she looked very excited, "Those little creatures make our jobs so much fun."

Now James didn't really agree, most animals he brought back from extinction were just slimey little reptiles. Most magazines required a picture, so James always put on a happy face while holding the animal for pictures, but then felt sick for the next few days. Perhaps this would be different though.

Both of them walked back to the panels in the main room where they found Tommy, he haven't even went to his room yet. Now Tommy was a happy fellow, he was the one watching that movie on the flight, Tommy was here to be the main computer operator. He was a tech guy, he was the one that would keep the facility running.

"So we draw power from the Los Angeles power grid, we have a backup generator but that takes a few minutes to start up." He scanned the panels looking for another button, "Another important detail is not to get lost, now only three percent of the complex is dedicated to us. The rest is open space for those Nightwings, by the end of our 10 year service we will have all 200 ready for action." James felt very uncomfortable, the group had wandered for at least an a hour in the endless hallways finding the living quarters. The service hallways had many windows looking into the habitats for observation. Majority of the task were automated by machines, but workers needed to be on site for reference and maintenance.

Another weird detail is that the every habitat is connected to each other and a very large utility corridor, now James figured this was to allow the dragons to get out at the once they were ready.

"So… we just wait or do we give a conformation?" asked Jack slouching on one of the couches.

Eric went to reply but Tommy beat him to it, "We got 2 days before the first batch arrives, this gives us time to check the first stage machines. I can handle that, you fellows just make yourself at home." Out of all 4 others he had to live with, James enjoyed Tommy the most. Tommy was some kid who wanted to be a professional football player, but became a tech guy in college and pursued that career.

Jack got up and walked down the other hallway, "Let's see what we got to live with." Jack had a small southern accent, but tend to switch to an American accent time to time. Now he was guy who wanted to teach military tactics rather than fight with them, James would also agree with this.

The other hallways led to a small canteen, weight room, locker room, and a makeshift study completed with a bookshelf covering one wall and a desk and multiple chairs surrounding it.

Jack look at the weight room and quickly got on one of the machines, "Hey James can you spot for me?" James looked down the hall towards the study and then back to Jack about to politely decline, but Jack read him quickly. "Alright then, I can try out the rowing machine instead. Catch you later."

James didn't know either to say thanks or to say sorry but he kept walking down the hall. Multiple office spaces were vacant, probably unfinished due to time or budget. All of the office stuff were built into their staterooms. James proceeded to walk back to the main room and saw Tommy still fiddling with the panels, he noticed Liliana sitting on the couch reading a small book. He went to one of the chairs and turned on the TV, a news broadcast was happening. With nothing else to do James just sat there, watching.

 **(Blackout for Passing Time)**

 **2 Days Later**

The service crew seemed more like robots than actual people, they just came in, delivered supplies to their proper location and just left without saying a word. But this all didn't matter, the main shipment were 20 small dark eggs, about the size of human torso. About 18 hatched within that first day, the first one that hatched was given the codename Starcreator.

That nightwing was the first that the world had ever seen, she was a little dragonet. In honor of James he was given Starcreator for a few days before she had to return to the pack of dragons. James sat there in his office chair, Starcreator rolled around on the desk. She was knocking over many things with her wings and tail, the little dragon just didn't know how to use them.

James was no big person for small animals, but the dragonet was adorable. Her head flopped around as it tried to roll over to face him. Eventually James had to help Starcreator when she almost fell off the desk, the little dragonet looked up at him with a stare that he could not describe. It was one of trust and being safe, the dragonet began to gnaw at his arm but a lack of teeth prevented injury.

All he could do is hold the little dragonet and think. _I created this, not just recreate a code. No… I'm actually like a father._ James felt warm inside, all his other accomplishments were just for a job, but to be able to hold a little creature in his arms that was his own work seemed to create a feeling only of which a parent may feel.

But only one thing bothered him, the mind was not of his creation, it was another human's mind, but whoever it was that person is dead. The equipment that scanned and recorded thoughts and soul conducted a lethal process of punching 3 holes into the skull and this would be lethal to anyone. The process was considered barbaric so it was conducted to dead patients before brain death occurred.

Still, the dragonet in James arm felt somewhat like a daughter. The scale was his design too, the scale design was like an artist's signature.

Everyone came in that day to see Starcreator, including Tommy whom of which was the busiest. But he even made time to stop by to see the adorable dragonet. When she had to return to the pack, James felt sad after that, he could only observe Starcreator through a window in one of the many corridors. His work consisted of mood observing and recording any unnatural events that may occur.

Month after Month, 20 more Nightwing eggs arrived. Each month required more work added to the to-do list. Zack and Eric had it easy for the first two years, no military teachings were required then. But during those deliveries, James never got another Dragonet, he always felt alone and cut off. Tommy and Liliana were nice to talk to but only four other people in one's life for eight years can do a lot to someone. But that was soon to change.

 **A/N: Hello reader. So this chapter was to get to the end of the scorching but I wanted to show how it really started minus the end of the world stuff. The plot and character development will start rolling next chapter. Another point is that you may have noticed I post every other week, this is a bad schedule and I will aim for every week now, especially now that the scorching is kicking off. Anyway if you have any thoughts or ideas please post a review, it is nice to hear feedback. One more thing, this won't be my main story, I'm currently working on a story as old as my experience with Wings of Fire (about 3 years). Thanks for reading and see you later. (That other story is massive and will start during an intermission period)**


	5. Chapter 4, The Gathering Storm (Cont)

**Chapter 4**

 **The Gathering Storm (Continued)**

 **2036 (A.D.)**

"Read the letters out loud please?" James pointed to the letters on the screen. The little nightwing squinted at the screen and began to read the letters.

"E… D… F... C… Z… and P." James filled in the complete check box on his clipboard. He had to be careful, the robot in the testing room was being remotely controlled from the room he was in and sudden movement could jam the joints.

Being careful James replied, "Thanks Moonlight, could you get Galaxywatcher for me" The little nightwing nodded and scurried out the exit into the waiting room. James pressed the button on his wrist pad. The robot turned off and his goggles slowly darkened. He only removed the head gear and looked up at the screen above. The camera in the testing room was still working but no dragonet was inside yet.

Just then a small knock came from the door and it slowly opened, Liliana came through. "Tommy wants to talk to you."

"I can't leave now, I still got to finish the eye exam." James wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, and this eye exam needed to be done quickly. Especially after that announcement a few years back that more batches of Nightwing's were being delivered.

"Let me finish the exams, Tommy says this is very important!"

"Alright then." James hit another button on his wrist pad, the exoskeleton loosened and he stepped out of the frame. Liliana then stepped in and pressed the small button on the wrist pad. James walked out into the hallway, he looked back to see the exoskeleton closing up and Liliana putting on the virtual goggles.

Even though he had been in the facility for a few years, James still felt lost in the endless hallways. The sounds of small parts moving in the wall and at least hundreds of dragonets in other rooms made silence impossible.

The living quarters were blocked off by a huge steel door, but it was always kept open for protocol. Tommy was sitting at the endless array of computer screens on the wall, his back was facing the entrance but James heard Thomas whispering to himself.

Tommy quickly turned around, "James! Quickly come over here this really important." Tommy sounded frightened, ideas of what was happening quickly flew through James head.

"What is it."

"The microphones that Eric called useless picked up something strange." Eric motioned James over again, this time he did walk over. "We've been getting complaints by the dragonets that Starseer talks in her sleep. So I moved her to an empty sleeping room and I decided to turn on the mics in the room, but Eric said that it would be pointless. I still turned them on and was she is saying may raise some flags."

James didn't see a problem at first but based on how shooked up Tommy sounded, he decided to listen in. Tommy pressed a button on the keyboard, an empty sleeping quarters with a dragonet sleeping in a bed appeared on one of the screens. They both leaned in to the speaker and listened while watching the screen.

The nightwing breathing was a bit loud but no voices, but then small quiet words began to form. "Fire… Fire…" The little dragonet began to twitch and scratch her face. "The lights will go out… And terror will come out." Starseer's face began twitching violently and she scratched at her face horrendously. "When the people run… We will face the guns…" Tears rolled down from her eyes and she kept scratching at her face. "But when the guns fall silent… The world will fall into violence." Starseer then woke up in terror looking around the room, then laying back down with her eyes open in paranoia.

Both of them stared at each other. James then said, "Bad dream I guess?" He tried to play this off, James didn't feel like dealing with this issue.

Tommy then said, "Yeah sure, the same dream for 2 consecutive weeks?"

"Well… what do you think we should do."

"I think we should tell Eric, he would know what to do." Thomas reached for the small phone on the panel. James grabbed his hand and pulled it back.

"Eric is the last person we should tell!" James didn't trust Eric, ever since the first day in the facility Eric acted shady and never shared his past with the rest of the crew.

James looked back at the screen, Starseer looked petrified. He wanted to do something for her, but the only logical thing was to talk to her… face to face.

The only room where there was a 2 way window into the dragon section was an old assembly area. James always wondered how such a massive operation could've gone unnoticed. The facility was originally a massive fallout shelter for the city of Los Angeles, but after the Pacific Nuclear Crisis, the crumbling United Nations made a small pact to slowly deconstruct nuclear warheads.

James made an arrangement with Thomas to get Starseer into the same room with him. While Thomas would keep Eric busy, James would try to figure out what Starseer was dreaming about. The only thing between James and Starseer would be a thin piece of glass.

James sat in the dim light in his chair waiting for the Nightwing to come through the small door on the other side. Only a few minutes passed by when the door slid up and a little Nightwing came into the room. It was Starseer.

James quickly stood up, this was the first time a nightwing would see a human, or a real one at least. Starseer looked up in awe, she still seemed paranoid but he saw some curiosity spark inside her.

The little Nightwing Dragonet walked up to the glass, "Are… are you… real."

A small smile spread across James's face, "Real as I'll ever be."

"Are you here to help me." Her voice was slightly muffled by the glass but everything else seemed fine.

"Yes." James pulled his chair up and sat right at the foot of the glass. "Starseer, I know about what's been happening at night. We are worried about you, can you tell me what is happening." James reached behind his back and switched on the recorder to record the conversation.

Starseer kept looking down at her talons, a small tear dripped from her face. "You have taught us so much about the world above us… how it's so stable and strong…" James wished he could agree. "Every night I see… I see…" Starseer started crying softly, she laid on the floor and all James could do was watch.

James yelled from his side of the glass, "It's okay, you don't need to say any more." Starseer kept bawling on the floor, James didn't know what to do. He reached behind him and tried to shut off the-

Immediately Eric charged in and ran at James. He yelled, "What the hell are you doing."

"I was trying to help her…"

Eric banged on the glass to get her attention, Starseer looked up in tears. Eric pulled out another recorder, pressed the button, and held it up to the glass. He yelled, "What did you see!" Starseer didn't say anything, instead she started crawling back. Eric banged the recorder on the glass repeatedly, "TELL ME NOW!"

Starseer stopped and looked down at the floor crying even more. James yelled out to Eric, "Stop this immediately!"

"Get out of here James! This doesn't concern you."

James scowled back at him, "This is MY project and I demand you stop this at once!"

Eric looked down at the dragonet, then looked at the recorder that he held against the glass. He began to step away.

The moment was slowly calming down. Eric still held the recorder to the glass, but his gaze was at the floor. Starseer looked at Eric, James wanted to pull Eric away but something sparked in Starseer's eye.

She yelled out, "YOU… YOU'RE THE ONE KEEPING US HERE!" The Nightwing Dragonet charged at the glass furiously. Eric jumped back in terror, Starseer rammed into the glass, it didn't shatter, but a huge crack appeared. She kept slamming into the glass trying to break through.

James quickly ran to the door, but Eric just laid there on the ground not moving. He ran back to him and began to drag to the exit, but Eric resisted.

"We have to get out of here now Eric!" James yelled.

Eric looked back at James, "Cover your ears!" James had no time to react when instantly gunfire blasted through the room. All he could hear was ringing, but he looked over to the glass and saw something unimaginable.

There he saw the lifeless corpse of Starseer, a small pool of blood began to pool around the broken glass. James looked at Eric, he was holding a pistol in his hand, reloading a magazine and moving the slide forward.

James was horrified about what just happened, "Where did you get a gun from?" he yelled out.

Eric replied, "When we are stationed in a nest full of animals, it can be useful to have some protection." He holstered the gun into his vest and went to inspect the body.

"I didn't know you had a gun all these years," James said. He stood over the body, the fact that she was so quickly dead was terrifying. "What was that about… you know when she said that you were keeping them here."

Eric looked at the dragonet closer, he inspected the facial area. James saw what he was looking at, a lone white scale off the corner of the eye. Eric looked back at James, "I don't know. Listen can you take my recorder back to my room. I'll take care of this."

James took the recorder, it had very distinctive E on the front. "What's this?"

Eric looked back, "E… uh that's for my name."

"Alright," James didn't believe it. He walked back to the exit, taking one more look at the scene. James continued out of the room and saw Jack and Thomas running fast down the hallway.

"What the heck happened," Jack yelled out.

James waited for them to get closer, he then pulled them in close. He whispered, "I'll tell you later." James looked back at the doorway, "Eric is hiding something."

Jack pulled out and said, "Oh c'mon we already know he is a bit shady. The guy is just shy, that's all."

"No, I'm serious… He knows something that we don't, and I'm gonna figure this out right now." James watched both of them jump as they saw what was inside the chamber, he walked down the endless hallways back to the living quarters. Once inside James went straight to Eric's room. He set down the recorder and quickly started looking through the filing cabinets, hopefully something would show up.

An hour of searching came up with nothing, the filing cabinets were very organized but they all contained simple reports of power levels and food deliveries. James almost gave up, but a lone filing drawer was left. It was the only locked one too.

"This must be the one…" James didn't know what to do, he didn't have a key and he couldn't break the lock. He decided to leave it, he knew that he would have to wait another time for a key or to pick the lock.

That night at dinner everyone was talking about what happened while Eric was trying to cover up the incident with authorities.

"He did what?!" Liliana cried out.

Jack came in, "I knew he was crazy… but not that crazy."

"Did you find anything?" asked Thomas

James looked down at his tray, "No, but there is one last drawer I need to check. If there is anything, then that's where we will find it." He grabbed his fork and and gave his food a small poke. For all the money that was put into the place, James seemed surprised how cheap their food was.

He was about to take a bite, but Eric stomped into the room furiously. "Let's make one thing clear!" he yelled out. "We have protocols for a reason James!"

James stood up in return, "At least I was doing something about this problem!"

"You could've compromised this entire operation, we are lucky we aren't facing problems like the mudwings," Eric insisted. James remembered reading that report in Eric's files, how the mudwings faced a genetic error and now they need to be at a certain temperature to produce fire.

Jack then stood up, "Eric, you need to calm down. James was trying to help that poor nightwing!"

Eric fired back at him, "Shut up Jack, James could have solved this problem if he followed the rules laid out for us."

James scowled at him, "And who set this rules for us Eric." The whole room looked to Eric when he said that, Eric though was not expecting him to say that.

"Uh… that is classified," Eric apprehensively replied.

James narrowed his eyes, "Your not with the Western Government, you're not even in the military are you?"

Eric must've realized what was happening and slam his fist on the table. "Listen here!" he yelled out, "This is my operation now. If any of you try to compromise the operations in this facility, then you will be declared an enemy of the state and be dealt with. Do I make myself clear?" With that last question he pulled out the same gun from behind his jacket. Everyone at the table slowly nodded in fear. He gave a small smirk, "It is important to tell you that Doctor Taran disobeyed her orders a few months ago. Don't worry, she was taken care of by our sponsor. If you need me, I will be in my office." He grabbed his food tray and walked down the living quarters hallway.

The whole table was silent, no emotion could counter what just happened. _Doctor Taran is dead_ , James thought to himself, _what about the icewings, what will happen to us, what will we do now?_

"This is crazy," Thomas cried out!

Liliana looked at James, "What are we going to do."

Jack grabbed the dinner knife and yelled, "I say we take matters into our own hands!"

"NO," James screamed. Everyone looked towards him, "We don't what we are dealing with, whatever it is… it's in that drawer."

"Your not planning to fight him I hope," Thomas said.

James thought how he would do it, "I need to get in there when Eric is distracted. Tomorrow when he is at the loading dock on the surface, I'll find out." He didn't feel comfortable with this, but he was the only one willing to do it. "You guys need to distract him if he comes back."

Jack gave a small chuckle, "Yeah, distract a crazy person with a gun."

James didn't find it funny, "And if he finds be in his office, then he would shoot me immediately," he asserted.

"Then tomorrow at eight, we make our move," Thomas stated. Everyone agreed, and then went back to dinner.

 **The Next Day**

 **(8am)**

James crept into Eric's office wielding a crowbar, he didn't waste time rushing to the desk and prying open the drawer. It opened rather easily, it must've been closed for years. He set down the crowbar on the desk and looked inside the drawer. James shuffled through the few stacks of dusty papers. Nothing seemed of interest until he came to an old yellow folder with the word _Echo_ printed on the front, the E was in the same font on Eric's recorder.

 _That explains something at least_ , James thought distinctly. He opened the folder and pulled out the few stapled pages labeled:

 _ **Echo File #C195**_

 _ **For Authorized Personnel Only**_

 _ **Project Animus**_

 _ **ANalyzation of Irregular Matters Under Standards**_

 _ **of Echo and Western Government Council**_

James knew this was much more serious than he thought, with a chill down his spine he flipped the page to read more.

 _ **Echo File #C195**_

 _ **The Echo Organization has now started the Animus Project with non-human test subjects under the codename dragons. With secret funding from the Western Council, Echo is using the old Pacific Nuclear bomb shelters as testing grounds for Project Animus. This allows for protection from the public eye and enemy satellites. The current cover-up story is that the dragons are being trained for combat missions. This isn't their sole purpose, but unsuccessful test subject will be used for combat and other missions. These Dragons have been genetically implanted with the virus extracted from patient 4 from the 1971 incident. Now it is unlikely that single test subjects would develop the abilities similar to the stones, this is why multiple test subjects are being created. Echo had decided to implement multiple dragon designs to test whether physical strength or ability affect the strain on the user's sanity.**_

James reached the end of the page with his thoughts tied up in knots, but he had to hurry so he quickly flipped the page.

 _ **Echo File #F43**_

 _ **The nightwing has been chosen for their ability to blend into dark spaces, which makes them perfect for night operations. An initial order of 1000 specimens is being delivered, it is your responsibility to make sure there is no direct human contact until proper examination is complete. The Nightwing has also been approved for Project Fate, this project is in direct coordination with Project Animus. Extra monitoring may be required for test subjects that develop the symptoms of the**_ …

James dropped the paper when he saw Eric open the door and storm into the room, gun in hand.

"Wait Eric, I was just needing to know why," James cried.

Eric smiled, "And now you know." He pulled up the gun… but didn't fire. "Your lucky James, we may not need you for Project Animus, but we require you for Project Fate." James felt relieved, but was short lived by the feeling of being trapped. Eric walked over to the desk and slid the opened folder back into the drawer, he slammed closed while feeling dent made by the crowbar. "Now you and your crew are a bit wildly, so we will have an Echo garrison stationed here. Don't worry, we only need to keep you in check."

He escorted James back into the common room, there everyone was sitting on the chairs, with armed guards dressed in black standing over them. James now knew, there was no way out of this.

 **A/N: Normal Person: Who would be crazy enough to post a new chapter at 3 in the morning?**

 **Me: Oh boy 3am! (Unfortunately it is 1:45 in the morning)**

 **I have to apologize, first for making this joke above, and second for the long time without posting. See my school has a trimester based system where all the stuff in a semester is crunched into a trimester, this can leave me to be very busy. Not only that but I have been reconstructing/adding to the timeline of this headcanon. Now an important thing I want to say is that as long as this story is not deleted from the website, it is not dead. I assure you that we will see that completed sign eventually. This is going to be a long story, primarily set in North America. I have small plans for a story set in Europe, but I am busy full time with this project. Last note is that if you have not read** _ **The Scorching Truth**_ **by DragonLord15, I urge you to do so. There will be a crossover event, it is not for a while but these 2 stories are in the same universe. I don't know about a posting schedule, but I will try to keep post 2 week periods to a minimal. Thanks and I hope you enjoy!**


	6. Chapter 6, An Unlikely Chance

**Chapter 5**

 **An Unlikely Chance**

 **5011 (A.S.)**

The entire room remained silent, waiting for James' next words. But only he could hear his their heavy breathing.

"So… What happened next?" a random voice called out.

James turned around next to his desk, "Nothing… Absolutely nothing happened next. Not for the next 4 years at least."

Clay stepped forward, "What happened after that, surely you won't stop there."

"I've told enough for now, so please leave me be?" James replied back.

"But what about-"

James slammed his fist on the desk, "What about me having to recall this damn tragedy," he yelled back. That seemed to have been enough as the occupants of the room began to slowly shuffle out.

Eventually only Starflight and Fatespeaker remained, he seemed urgent to say something. "Could you at least tell me what the rest of that document said, so I can write it down for Jade Mountain?"

James sat down in his chair, face in his hands. "Sorry Starflight, I'm barely remembering all this as I go. I'll try to get something to you before you leave tomorrow." Both of the nightwings nodded and flew out the door towards the village.

He looked back down to his desk. _Oh what am I going to do_ , he thought, _stuck in some world where I don't belong, surrounded by creatures that are unaware of all the carnage that happened five thousand years ago_. The thoughts gave him chills, but he still was trying to figure out what this Brotherhood was, or what they wanted with him. Still flustered, he heard the sounds ropes creaking behind him, followed by a suddle moan of confusion.

James almost skipped a beat when he looked behind, Zack was awake and holding his head. "Oh Zack! Thank goodness you're awake," James instantly yelled out.

Zack looked back at him, "James?"

James got from his chair and ran to the hammock, "Yes it's me Zack, I'm here," he said comfortably, kneeling next to him.

"Where are we, I thought we were in the presidential bunker?" Zack replied. 

James didn't even know where to start, "Listen… We were asleep for a long time, and the world is much different now. But… but I think we'll be alright and-"

Zack stopped him mid-sentence, "Wait, how long were we frozen?"

James stuttered, "Uh… I think over five thousand years."

"FIVE THOUSAND YEARS! How is that even remotely possible? Is there anyone even still alive? I thought we can only survive for only-"

James covered his mouth in order to stop his yelling, "Just calm down… I need you to listen very carefully." He removed his hand from Zack's mouth, "Look, I think we'll be alright, things seem to be very different now. The dragons… they aren't hostile."

Zack looked at him with more confusion, "What are you talking about, I thought you said that they would die because of that genetic stuff."

"I know, I know… I don't understand what happened. Echo took precautions to make sure they couldn't survive without human care. Something must have gone wrong in the genetic pattern." James got up and helped Zack out of the bed, Zack was clearly showing the same side effects that he felt when he first woke up. "But that's not important now, things really have changed here. They are actually a lot like humans, like in the dark ages."

Zack didn't answer, he only showed fear and confusion about the situation. "So… these dragons are different now?" he replied quietly in fear.

"Yes Zack," he slowly put him down on the chair next to the desk with the map of Pyrrhia, "Now, apparently the whole continent was just in a huge war, 20 years to be exact. Now these dragonets who somehow ended this whole thing, they saved my life. Now I'm telling them what happened back in our time."

Zack instantly looked up, "You haven't told them about Washington D.C. yet, I hope?"

James put both his arms on the window frame looking down at the village, "Of course not, I never intend to tell them that part. Matter of fact I haven't even got to San Diego part yet."

Zack attempted to get up from the chair, but his legs gave up on him, ultimately falling back into the chair. "So… where's everyone else?" he said worryingly.

James looked back at him quickly, "That brings me to the next part, I think we are in some deep trouble."

Zack looked at him, still worried. "Worse than D.C.?"

James nodded back, "The only reason we're awake is because of some other humans woke us up."

Zack then looked puzzled, "What's bad about that?"

"They call themselves _The Animus Brotherhood of Pyrrhia_ , they claim to maintain peace in Pyrrhia. Now the first one I met tried to kill me, but then some ghost thing told me they didn't mean to hurt me at all." James walked back to the desk where Zack was still struggling to get up.

"So they woke us up for a reason?" Zack replied.

"Yes… that entity told me that they needed all of us. I have reason to believe they are watching us, the only reason we are awake is because of them."

Zack replied, "This can't be Echo, can it?"

James instantly replied, "No… they met their end in Washington D.C. remember? Anyway whoever these people are, don't trust them. Who knows how long it will be until they wake up everyone else." He brought Zack's attention to the map of Pyrrhia. "Recognize any of this?"

Zack replied, "Not at all," looking puzzled.

"I didn't either, not at first." James grabbed the pencil on the desk and started circling certain parts on the scroll. "I believe that the Ice Kingdom is what is left of Alaska, and this sliver of land in the bottom right might be the remains of Baja California, maybe even California itself! The rainforest must be Central America and the Mud Kingdom may even the mid-south eastern United States."

"Um James? I don't think North America could even change that much," Zack said.

James replied quickly, "Not by itself of course, with the moon destroyed, earthquakes would be catastrophic and tides would shift dramatically. But now that there are 3 moon, tides and earthquakes could change any continent's shape."

Zack stopped him right there, "What about Europe and South America?" Zack tried to get up again, he supported himself on James this time. He finally managed to stand up next to James.

"I don't know much, all I know that these dragons don't know anything about the previous human world. I think some of them won't even believe it. I can't read their scrolls, the written language is something I've never seen before. I intend to learn it eventually." Jack already tried to walk away, James could tell that he wasn't interested in this. "You sure you're alright Zack, need me to answer any questions?"

"No… not now, it's just… we don't belong here." Jack was quivering in his voice, James knew that feeling when he first arrived.

James replied comfortingly, "It will be alright, we got through more tough situations. We will be accepted here, those dragonets aren't that bad. They almost seem more human than actual dragon, and five-thousand years is a long time for dragons to change. Maybe we could even-"

Zack looked directly at James, "So… about these dragonets. When will I meet them?"

 **2040 (A.D.)**

 **Los Angeles Nightwing Development Facility**

"Confirmed reports by NASA conclude that an Asteroid 2.4 Kilometers long will strike the Earth in approximately 5 days, 2 hours, and 36 minutes. All military personnel are to remain on standby and await further orders." Every guard, scientist, and other worker in the facility huddled in the small room around the television watching The Secretary of Defense read from his desk. "For the first time in years, the Western Council and the rest of the Major World Powers are working together, They are preparing nuclear warheads to strike right next to the asteroid in order alter its trajectory away from Earth. As of now the public is not aware of the situation, and this will be kept secret until Earth is no longer in danger of a major extinction event. Await further orders." The screen then turned static.

Instantly everyone in the room starting yelling out in comotion, everyone feared for their lives. James stood there in silence, he only looked for his friends in the room. He could only see Tommy at the computer screens, frantically searching through files and received messages. The comotion only stopped once Eric came in and stomped his boots on the floor, "Listen up… You all heard that broadcast, we aren't going to die. The Western Council is handling this situation, and even if their plan fails, those United Nations defense systems things might even protect us." James remembered reading about those in college, they were one of the last United Nations' projects, a massive set of defense systems that would protect the planet from asteroids and other threats like ballistic missiles. Eric continued, "Now in the unlikely case that the asteroid hits Earth, we will be safe down here. But the world won't get hit, so let's get back to work, these Nightwings aren't going to raise themselves." He clapped his hands in the air twice, and all the workers started to flow out of the room.

James now sat on the open couch, thinking about the situation. Eric walked up next to him and obnoxiously put one of his boots right next to James, resting his arm on his raised knee. "That goes for you too James, get back to work," he implied.

James stood up immediately frustrated, "I can't believe how calmly you are taking this, our life's are at stake!"

Eric replied, "You dare contradict my orders." Two of the armed guards in the room noticed the fights and started to approach, weapons drawn.

"Why should we even be working on these dragons when the whole world may be dead in a few days." The armed guards now came up to James and started to push him back, but he resisted.

Eric then signaled guards to stop, he looked close up to James. "If we stop now, everything we worked for will go to waste. What would we even do if we did stop, there is a reason we aren't telling the public about this, do you have any idea what type of panic would happen if this news went public? We must put our trust in the Council, and we must continue are work, especially now that we are so close to the solution."

James stopped struggling, Eric was right, if they stopped now then all that they have worked for would be for nothing. Tommy hustled nervously over and yanked at James' arm, "Let's go James, no need to cause trouble." Both guards nodded at Tommy and let go of James.

The two walked towards the living quarters section, "What did you think was going to happen James? Eric would rather us all die to that asteroid than stop the project now," Tommy argued.

"It's not Eric, it's Echo. They are the ones keeping us trapped in this prison. I'm tired of having a gun being on my back all the time!" James stopped at his room, and nudged Tommy inside the door.

"We're all tired of this James, but we can't do anything about this. I just hope they let us go after this is all over." Tommy sat down in the office chair while James sat on the edge of the bed.

"I doubt it," said James, "I'm more worried about that asteroid, there is little room for error in trying to alter its trajectory." Even more frustrated, James fell back into the sheets on his bed. "What happens if everything goes wrong, what if that asteroid does hit the Earth. I don't think this old fallout shelter would protect us."

"Oh it might, but we would have to go to the surface eventually and it would be nothing but a fiery apocalyptic wasteland."

"Geez thanks for that comforting image that will be in my head for a few days now," James replied. He lifted himself back up and gave Tommy a sarcastic look back.

Tommy shrugged, "Well what did you want me to say? It's not like that world can just shrug it off. Anyway I need to head back to the computers, have to do some more weekly calculations." Tommy didn't even wait for a reply, he just walked up to the door and waved on the way out.

The immediate silence came over James quickly, _I guess it is time to get back to work_.

 **4 days later**

Just like before, everyone gathered around the small television to hear the report about the fate of Earth. James could only assume that the mission failed and the message wouldn't be sent out. Of course the massive screen on the wall finally turned on and the Secretary of Defense at his desk faded in.

"The mission… was a success," everyone in the room immediately cheered out in joy, but James noticed that the tone of the man's voice sounded scared and quiet. The whole room quieted down again once he began to speak, "The first warhead went off at the wrong time unfortunately and missed, but a second warhead was immediately launched and this one did alter the trajectory of the asteroid." The speaker took a deep breath, a few more guards watching noticed his quiet tone too. "Now some unconfirmed reports show that the asteroid may fly by the earth too close, and our gravity may pull it in. If this the case, then we will have to power up the Meteor Defense Turrets stationed around the globe. This is an immediate order, I repeat, an immediate order. This an order given by the Western Government and the rest of the worlds powers. Activate the Defense Turrets and prepare for-" No one spoke… the screen just went blank. Only noises that were heard was Tommy scramming to put the broadcast back on the screen.

Eric yelled out, "Tommy get that damn broadcast back online." He started running over to the controls to help. A few guards in the room also ran over to the controls, whilst the rest of the room went into a whole commotion.

Tommy nervously yelled back, "It's not us! Their broadcast shut off, we have to wait for them to get it back online." James stood still while everyone else in the room was running around bumping into each other. He too eventually had to start moving, Jack pulled him out of the crowd.

Jack and Liliana were in the back corner, "Do you know what's going on," Jack tried to yell over all the noise.

James yelled back, "I don't know, maybe the broadcast went down?"

"I don't think a broadcast that important would go down so easily," Liliana called out, "Hopefully Tommy knows what's going on." James tried to look over everyone's heads to see the control panel, a quick glance showed Tommy struggling with controls and many people huddled around him.

James turned around, "I doubt that even Tommy knows, we need to get out of this room before we try to rationalize this situation." All three of them nodded, they started to push people aside in order to get to the living quarters, just then the screen turned back on. But someone else was on the screen, and there was a complete different background behind the man.

All the yelling stopped and everyone's attention went to the new person on the screen. Both Eric and Tommy looked at each other surprised with the new broadcast. "Greetings Project Animus operatives. This is an urgent message from Echo to all research facilities, in the unlikely case that the Earth is stuck by an Meteorite, you are to continue with operations until Echo personnel arrive and evacuate successful test subjects. Now some of you may be asking why Echo doesn't use this power to change the directory of the Asteroid, the answer is simple. Every major world power is watching this asteroid, and if it were to just change course, then Project Animus may be compromised. Until then you are to follow normal procedure." The broadcast shut off.

With all the confusion in the room Eric immediately yelled out, "Officer!" Without hesitation, an officer was right at his side listening for an order. "Get me a list of the successful test subjects immediately!" The officer nodded back quickly and shoved his through the crowd, sprinting down a hallway. "As of for the rest of you…" Eric hesitates while looking at the ground. James knew that the situation was now getting to his head. "Just get back to work, I don't even know what to say," no one in the room seemed to disagree.

"What do we do now?" Jack asked.

They all were lost for words, James finally managed to say something. "I guess we wait, it's not like the fate of humankind is resting on this situation."

 **A/N: So… again a very late chapter, and this one is a bit short. I'm going to be honest, I'm focusing the plot development on all the crazy stuff that will happen during the scorching. Also this chapter was going to be a lot longer, but I had to delay a small plot in order to put more focus on Zack (Now our second confirmed survivor). On a positive note, as of today when I'm posting this, marks my 3 year anniversary of first reading Wings of Fire. That may not be important, but I was going to post the "Pilot" chapter for my original FanFiction today. Unfortunately I was getting second thoughts, especially how it's more about modern humans (70's era) coming into Pyrrhia, seems a bit too far fetched for me. I might do it one day. Anyway, if you would like to read something like that, just put it in a review or PM if you want. Don't worry, that Humans v.s. Dragons stuff is going down next chapter!** **Another small lore note, as of right now there is no released map of Pantala. So in the likely case that Pantala does not have a sea that resembles the Mediterranean, I have a backup plan (or scenario). It's quite simple, in 1920 a man named Herman Sörgel decided it would be smart to drain the Mediterranean in order to create new farming land. Problem is that the land would become salt flats, making it unusable. Not only that but basically the rest of Europe would get screwed up because of no gulf stream. But wait, there's more! Not only that, but basically every other event after this would only be up to speculation. So let's hope that there is a sea on the west side of Pantala.** **Well, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed** **.**


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